Would a Rose by any other name smell as sweet? That’s a question for Titanic fans after Claire Danes revealed she almost reunited with her Romeo + Juliet costar Leonardo DiCaprio to play Rose in James Cameron’s 1997 epic romance.
Asked by Dax Shepard on his podcast, Armchair Expert, if she had been offered the lead role in Titanic, Danes said that while she wasn’t entirely clear on the particulars, there was a “strong interest” in her taking the part.
“But honestly, I’d just made this romantic epic with Leo in Mexico City [Romeo + Juliet], which is where they were going to shoot Titanic, and I just didn’t have it in me,” Danes said.
Danes added that she and DiCaprio shared a manager at the time, and were both conflicted about taking what felt like life-changing roles. “And I could see he wasn’t sure, but he was like, ‘Fuck it, I gotta do this thing.’” Danes recalled. “And I looked down on him, going, I totally understand why you are doing it. And I’m not ready for that. And I think I really wasn’t ready for it.”
Danes was one of a number of young actresses considered for the role of Rose, including Gwyneth Paltrow and Gabrielle Anwar. It was Cameron’s casting director, the late Mali Finn, who eventually suggested Kate Winslet. The Sense and Sensibility star was so amped to win the part that she allegedly called Cameron after her audition to wonder why he was even considering other actresses. “I am Rose! I don’t know why you’re even seeing anyone else!” reads an apocryphal quote in a 1997 Entertainment Weekly story on the Titanic production.
For Jack, Cameron looked to Chris O’Donnell and Matthew McConaughey (who even auditioned with Winslet), but ultimately chose DiCaprio. Not that the future star made the choice easy.
“He read it once, then started goofing around, and I could never get him to focus on it again,” Cameron said in 1997. “But for one split second, a shaft of light came down from the heavens and lit up the forest.”
Following its release, Titanic became the biggest film of all-time, winning a record-tying 11 Oscars and holding onto the title of the highest-grossing film of all time for a decade. (It was eventually surpassed by Cameron’s follow-up film, Avatar.) Meanwhile, DiCaprio turned into a household name seemingly overnight.
“I remember after that movie came out and he just went into another stratosphere,” Danes said. “I went to the premiere of The Man in the Iron Mask [DiCaprio’s first release after Titanic], and when he walked into the room the floor fell in his direction. Everybody in the room went toward him. It was a little scary. I think I may have sensed I was courting that. And I just couldn’t do it. I didn’t want it.”
So, has Danes had any second thoughts about her decision? “Zero regret,” she told Shepard. “I was just really clear about it. I wasn’t conflicted. I wasn’t.”
In other words, she let go.
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